Barbara Ellen Brunson, 66, was last seen in Sumter, South Carolina on August 4, 2008. A Black woman with black hair and brown eyes, she had lived at Greene’s Residential Care Facility for about five years and suffered from dementia, schizophrenia, hypertension, and diabetes. Staff say she asked for hair products that day and said she would wait on the porch, a common sitting area; she then walked away and was never seen again.

At the time she vanished she wore a brown and red shirt, blue jeans, a purple scarf, black shoes and red socks. She stood about 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighed 140 to 170 pounds, and had missing front teeth. Staff reported she had wandered away from the facility on four occasions in the six months before August 4, and there was a twelve-hour delay before police were notified. An extensive search by the Sumter Police Department did not locate her.

The combination of serious medical conditions, a known tendency to wander, and the delay in reporting makes this disappearance especially concerning. If anyone knew Barbara, her routines at Greene’s, or saw her in Sumter around August 4, 2008, please come forward with information.